Naava wrote:In short, I have no idea what's going on and I don't even know how to speak any language anymore.
LOL. I think I feel that way almost all the time.
Anyway, yeah, it's a common phrase, or at least variations of it are (I don't think there's really a 'standard version' of it the way there usually is with proverbs though).
Build bridges, not walls and so on. It has become even more common now that our president wants to build (/is building) one along our southern border. And in that context, which word to use seems to be debatable in any language: in English, is it a
wall or a
fence? In Spanish, is it
un muro or
una muralla or
una valla?
So back to Estonian and the proverb/saying.
Sein is usually an indoor wall inside a house, but the kind that can keep your room warm is
soemüür and it's inside your house too. I thought the difference was the material it was made of (
soemüür is made of brick or tile,
sein is wood or whatever material might be behind the sheetrock). But a
soemüür can also be a
soesein. I get the impression there's some overlap between the two words, i.e. they can be used as synonyms.
But I'm not sure at all and I don't think they're the same in
every context. The one in China is
Suur Hiina müür and I don't think you could call that one a
sein. Maybe the difference is that
müür is the free-standing kind (I think a
soemüür is free-standing too, even though it doesn't tend to look like it and it's inside a house? It's almost like a fireplace/chimney that just
functions as an interior wall between rooms....? And I don't know how to translate it to English)
In this proverb I think it could go either way then... walls between people can be built as the free-standing brick kind or just a wall built between them that makes one large room into two smaller rooms.
Although since it's contrasted with a bridge, the outdoor free-standing kind makes the most sense. You aren't going to be building bridges between rooms inside your own house.